Asda mum now takes on UK delivery giant

She has already taken on the giant American corporation that owns Asda and won a landmark legal ruling... using law books borrowed from the local library. Now Croydon's very own 'Erin Brockovich' - mother-of-five Betty Matthews - is squaring up to Britain's biggest home delivery company in a legal battle over equal pay.

Matthews, 54, claims that up to 100 managers at the distribution company, Home Delivery Network, which delivers for retail giants such as Tesco, are being discriminated against.

Matthews, who has worked for HDN for five years as a depot manager since she was made redundant by Asda, has already signed up about 60 of its managers to support a class action against the group, which was created when Littlewoods' Business Express distribution network acquired GUS's Reality distribution company.

It is understood that the discrepancies in salaries arose in 2000 in a round of redundancies codenamed Operation Foxtrot. A number of Reality managers were asked to reapply for their jobs and new staff were taken on. It is alleged that managers ended up with widely varying salaries, despite carrying out the same jobs.

'We have repeatedly asked for discussions over this issue but have been told they are not going to change the pay structure,' said Matthews.

'I am not being stroppy for the sake of it. They must realise they have a duty to address this. It is no good being frightened of making waves when it comes to protecting your rights at work.'

Matthews, who says she has been approached by dozens of people for help on employment matters since her triumph against US giant Wal-Mart, was sought out by a number of HDN managers. The case is likely to go to a tribunal.

HDN bought the Littlewoods and GUS mail order businesses in 2002 and 2003 respectively.

The £590m purchase of GUS had to be cleared by the Competition Commission because, along with the earlier purchase of Littlewoods, it meant the company controls more than 70 per cent of the agency home shopping market.

The company successfully argued that agency mail order - where an agent takes orders and receives commission - should not be regarded as a separate market but as part of the vast non-food retail market.

Since the deal was cleared in 2004, 126 of Littlewoods' Index catalogue outlets have been closed with the loss of 3,200 jobs. More than 900 jobs were cut in the integration of the two distribution arms. Under chief executive Mark Newton-Jones, the combined catalogue operations are being promoted as an online department store.

Despite having no legal training, Matthews has already won compensation of £2,500 for each of the 68 workers who lost their jobs when Asda closed two home shopping depots in Croydon, Surrey, and Watford, Hertfordshire, when she led a group action in May 2003. Her actions raised comparisons with American Erin Brockovich, whose story was turned into a Hollywood blockbuster. Julia Roberts who portrayed her won an Oscar.

There are even plans for a Channel 4 TV film of Matthews' fight with Asda, with a script by Simon Nye, the writer of Men Behaving Badly.

Matthews, who said she was driven to near bankruptcy after the Asda action and could not even afford the fines on the law books she borrowed to help fight the case, has secured legal support and funding from the T&G union for this battle.

The T&G, which is leading the negotiations with HDN, said it would be inappropriate for it to comment on the discussions. However, a spokesman said: 'We need to see mandatory pay audits and a more open and transparent pay structure.'

A spokesman for HDN said: 'We are working closely with the trades unions in an agreed process to harmonise our terms and conditions.

'It is our policy not to disclose details of these discussions while ongoing or those of individual cases.'